Adventures in Babysitting
by Skillzyo
Summary: Quinn has to work on a day she would usually babysit Sugar. When Brittany and Santana are unable to find another sitter on such short notice, The Mack takes one for the team and offers her services. It goes about as well as one could expect. (Sort of Quack, Sort of Brittana, Kid!Sugar)


**Author's Note:** A quick lil fic I wrote after talking to mykindofparty about how Brittany and Santana's friends would care for Sugar if they ever had to babysit her. I hope you all enjoy it!

* * *

The Mack frowned at the fifty pounds of child in her hands. Sugar didn't seem to mind being held up by her armpits. She only smiled a toothy grin back at Mack, but Mack could see the mischief lurking behind those light brown eyes. Brittany and Santana had left minutes earlier, their shoulders shaking in laughter as they walked back to their car.

Mack had known this day would come–the day she would have to babysit Sugar without Quinn–but she had been hoping to put it off as long as possible. Unfortunately, the short film she was working on wasn't on schedule and Quinn was using what would have been a nice day off as a day to get some editing done at the studio, which left Mack to watch Sugar.

By herself.

Alone.

She could handle that. She had had plenty of practice helping Quinn, or at least watching Quinn get pestered by the inquisitive terror. Now that she thought about it, she had the sneaking suspicion that Quinn had planned to go into work on her day off solely so she could avoid an endless stream of 'why's all day.

Bitch.

She studied the child in her hands once more. Her brow furrowed and she asked, "You are potty-trained, right Twerp?"

Sugar's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Are you?"

Mack couldn't argue with that comeback, so she just shrugged and set Sugar down on the floor. She waited for the kid to go do kid things, but Sugar only stared at her, so Mack stared back. Mack eventually lost the staring contest she had inadvertently gotten herself into when her phone buzzed on the kitchen counter.

"You win this round," Mack said before she went to answer the phone. Sugar grinned and happily followed her, listening to but not fully understanding the conversation between her babysitter and whoever Ronnie was. When Mack hung up, she found Sugar at her side again. "What's up?"

"What's a bookie?" Sugar asked, her nose scrunching so much like her mother's would.

"A rich librarian," Mack lied. Then, to change the subject, she asked, "How do you feel about horses? Kids like those, right?"

"Sure!"

"Awesome, 'cause we're gonna go see some," Mack said as she grabbed her keys out of the wooden bowl on the counter. After sliding her boots on by the doorway, she stepped outside and closed the door behind her.

It wasn't until she was halfway down the street that she realized the car was too quiet. She glanced in the rear-view mirror and, upon seeing the empty backseat, quickly turned the car around. The car rolled back into the driveway and Mack let the engine run as she walked back inside the house. She came back out several minutes later with Sugar's suspiciously sticky hand clasped in hers.

* * *

The first thing Sugar noticed about the horse track was how bad it smelled, followed by how loud it was. Maybe she didn't like horses as much as she thought she did. Then her eyes caught sight of the cotton candy machine and she decided things weren't all bad. When Auntie Mack finished talking to the rich librarian, she started walking down the corridor towards the balcony, but Sugar tugged on her hand and pointed out the cotton candy machine.

"Pretty sure your parents hop you up on enough sugar as it is," Mack said with a shake of her head.

Sugar pouted. "Auntie Rachel would buy me some."

"Do I look like Auntie Rachel to you?"

"A little."

Mack scowled. "You're definitely not getting any now, Twerp," she said. "Come on. All the good seats will get snagged if we don't hurry."

The pout didn't leave Sugar's face, even after they found their seats. Now she really didn't want to be around some smelly horses at a noisy racetrack with her lousy babysitter. Auntie Mack didn't seem to notice her pout, so she crossed her arms over her chest to make it more obvious that she wasn't happy. She sighed when there was no reaction and leaned back in her seat, only to nearly be eaten by the folding chair. As she struggled to shift her weight so the seat would stay down, she heard someone talking to her Auntie.

"Ma'am, your daughter… she seems to be having some problems with her seat."

"I don't have a… Oh. Right."

Then Sugar felt strong hands lift her up by her armpits again and settle her on Mack's lap.

"Sorry," Mack sighed. "Still gettin' the hang of this kid shit."

If Sugar knew how to roll her eyes like her Mami, she would have. She settled for leaning back and 'accidentally' knocking her head against Mack's chin. Luckily, the horses trotted out to the gates, distracting Sugar from whatever swear word her babysitter said next.

The horses may have smelled bad, but from her seat she could see how pretty they were. She liked the polka-dot one the most. It looked like a big dalmatian. A loud bang went off and rang in Sugar's ears, but the ringing was drowned out by the thundering hooves of the horses as they broke from the gates.

"Where are they going?" Sugar asked loudly, barely able to hear herself.

"In a circle," Mack replied, her eyes fixed on the race below. The knuckles of her left hand were white from how tightly she was gripping the armrest as she muttered under her breath.

"Why?"

"Because they're racing."

"Why?"

"Because it makes them money."

"Why?"

Mack finally drew her attention from the track and looked at the kid on her lap. "I'll buy you that cotton candy you wanted if you stop asking me that."

* * *

After the race ended and Mack collected her winnings–it was the first time she had won in a long while–she led a satisfied Sugar back to the parking lot. Now Sugar had a sticky face to match her sticky fingers thanks to the two cotton candies Mack had bought her. At the other end of the parking lot, Mack could see the horses being led into their trailers. She looked down at Sugar and, after a moment of debate, pulled the girl towards the horses.

"Wanna pet one?"

Sugar nodded, "But only the one that won."

Mack nodded. She could respect that.

When they approached the trailer of the winning horse–Jackson Five, she was called–Mack waited until the handlers were out of sight before she pulled Sugar into her arms and ran to one of the open windows of the trailer. They could hear the horse stomping inside. It let out a whinny when Mack lifted Sugar up to peek inside.

The horse poked its black and white muzzle out the window, curious about the visitors. Sugar smiled as she rubbed the soft spot by the horse's nose and Mack smiled at how happy Sugar was. Maybe she wasn't so bad at this babysitting thing.

That thought fled her mind the moment she heard Sugar start crying. She looked up to see the girl's face covered in… well, she didn't know what. Mack quickly lowered her to the ground and asked what was wrong.

"The horse sneezed on me," Sugar said, tears welling up in her eyes.

In hindsight, Mack realized she probably shouldn't have laughed, but Sugar's expression was too funny not to laugh. Mack's laughter only made the girl cry more, though, which prompted Mack to roll her eyes, but she lifted Sugar up anyway and took her back to the car.

After getting the crying girl buckled in, Mack grabbed napkins out of the glove compartment.

"At least you won't end up being the weird horse girl in school," Mack remarked as she ran the napkins over Sugar's face.

"What?"

"Nothing," Mack said. When she finished, she leaned back and took a look at her handiwork. The horse spit was gone from Sugar's face, but her bangs were still damp. There wasn't much Mack could do for that, so she figured she did a pretty good job.

* * *

The next stop the car made was in front of Flannigan's. Mack had debated bringing Sugar with her, but she decided it wouldn't hurt the girl any to go into the bar. It wasn't like she was gonna let the kid take a shot. She'd wait until Sugar was at least ten before she did that.

She waved at the bartender as she led Sugar to the backroom. He didn't object to the girl trailing behind Mack, but it may have been because he couldn't see her over the bar. When they walked through the door to the backroom, Mack was greeted by a group of familiar faces seated around a card table.

"Who's the shortstack, Mack?" Sheila asked

"Sugar," Mack said as she took a seat. She pulled Sugar onto her lap–who was not happy about being stuck there again–and said, "Santana and Brittany's kid."

"Aw man, I haven't seen you since you were a baby," Ronnie said from the other side of the table. "How's it goin', Lil' Sug?"

"Mack let me get sneezed on by a horse," Sugar said, which prompted the Skanks to laugh.

"It builds character," Mack grumbled, which only made the girls laugh more. "Look, just deal me in, okay? We'll see who's laughing when I take all your money."

After Ronnie dealt her in, Mack explained the rules of Texas Hold 'Em and different versions of poker to Sugar. They had been playing for twenty minutes when Mack realized Sugar was picking up on the rules of the game really well. She had started to choose the same cards Mack would have chosen to toss. Unfortunately, she didn't quite understand bluffing and building up the pot–what good were the chips if Sugar couldn't snack on them?–so the only time Mack could bluff was when Sugar grew restless and left her lap. She had won forty bucks by the end of the night, though, so Mack wasn't complaining. It seemed Sugar was her good luck charm. A sleepy good luck charm, if her drooping eyelids were any indicator.

The sugar high must have worn off.

After saying goodbye to the Skanks and the other players, she gathered Sugar in her arms and carried her out of the bar into the dark parking lot. She tucked her safely into the backseat and buckled her in. Another soft smile appeared on Mack's face as she watched the girl sleep. She softly shut the door, careful not to wake her.

* * *

Miraculously, she was still asleep when Mack pulled in front of Brittany and Santana's house. Mack shut off the engine and got out. She hefted Sugar from the backseat of the car and carried her up the sidewalk to the front door. While she waited for the two terrors to open the door, she felt Sugar stir in her arms. When she looked down, she found those mischievous eyes looking back up at her.

"I had fun, Auntie Mack," Sugar said.

Mack cleared her throat and looked anywhere but at Sugar. "Yeah well, I didn't have too bad a time either," she said. She looked back down and said, "You're an alright kid, Twerp."

Finally, Santana and Brittany opened the door. Their hair was a mess and Mack could see that neither one of them was wearing anything under their robes. It seemed date night had gone well for the two of them.

"Mommies!"

Suddenly wide awake, Sugar squirmed in Mack's arms, so she put the kid down. Brittany and Santana wrapped her in a hug and before they could ask how things had gone, Sugar was talking a mile a minute.

"We went and saw the horses today. They were smelly and fast and the fastest and smelliest one sneezed on me when I pet it," she said. "And I got to meet skanks and Auntie Mack showed me how to play Texas Pull 'Em and Poker and gave me twenty bucks for being such a good luck charm." She dug the crumpled twenty dollar bill out of her pocket and showed it to her moms.

"It seems today has been very… educational," Santana said.

"You should learn somethin' new every day," Mack said with a shrug.

"And I finally know what I wanna be when I grow up," Sugar said, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "A bookie!" Brittany's brow furrowed while Santana glared at Mack over Sugar's shoulder. "They're like, really rich librarians."

"I don't think that's what a bookie is, sweetheart," Brittany said before she glanced over at Santana. "Wait, _is_ that what it is?"

"No," Santana said through gritted teeth, which Mack took as her cue to leave before Santana killed her.

* * *

Quinn's car was in the driveway when Mack pulled in. The porch light flickered on as she approached the front door and let herself inside. She could hear her girlfriend in the kitchen, so she slipped off her shoes and padded across the living room and around the corner to the kitchen, where she found Quinn scrubbing dishes in the sink. Two plates filled with food were set out at the kitchen table already, waiting for Quinn and Mack.

"You're home later than I expected," Quinn said without turning around.

Mack placed a quick kiss on Quinn's cheek and said, "Sorry. Was running around with another girl."

"Oh really?" Quinn asked. "And what was she like?"

"About four feet tall, a smart mouth, and totally potty-trained."

"She sounds like a winner," Quinn remarked before she turned to face Mack. She cupped Mack's face with sudsy hands and pulled her in for a real kiss. When she pulled back, Mack was a little breathless. "Hopefully that convinced you to stay with me instead of running off with her again." Mack nodded and Quinn gently patted her cheek. "Good," she said before turning back to the dishes. "So how was Sugar today? As bad as you thought she would be?"

"She said I looked like Rachel," Mack said, and Quinn could practically hear her grimacing over that thought. "But she was alright, I guess. Not sure I'd like to do it again, but I will if I have to. Besides, she was a pretty good luck charm."

"I have a feeling Brittany and Santana won't be letting you babysit again any time soon," Quinn said with a chuckle. "They said something about you promising their daughter the chance to get a mugshot next time?"

Mack laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her head. "I may have mentioned somethin' along those lines, yeah," she said. "Sugar seemed excited about it."

Quinn turned around again and studied Mack for a moment before asking, "So… are you feeling the sudden urge to go out and adopt a clan of children now?"

"Hell no," Mack said, shaking her head. She put her hands on Quinn's hips and tugged her forward so she could give her another kiss. When they broke apart, Mack grinned. "I don't wanna have to have a live-in sitter just so we can have sexy date nights."

"Does that mean now would be a bad time to mention that Beth is coming over tomorrow to spend the weekend with us?"

The smile fell from Mack's face. "You're joking, right?"

"Nope," Quinn said, amusement twinkling in her eyes. "Teen hormones. All weekend. I can't wait."

Mack pressed her forehead against Quinn's shoulder and groaned.

She wondered if cotton candy would work as well on Beth as it did on Sugar.


End file.
